


Deep Breath

by SillyBunny88



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Dark, F/F, Love, Multi, Revenge, Romance, Unrequited Love, Worry, Yandere, Yandere Armin Arlert, struggles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-20
Packaged: 2018-03-08 08:05:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3201743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SillyBunny88/pseuds/SillyBunny88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Reader first meets Armin she thinks he's cute and Armin returns those feelings and that much more. Eventually others start to notice how attached Armin becomes to her- but just how far will it go? He promises himself to always protect her, but at what costs for himself and her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

_The Unabridged History of Titans, Workings of Rank, and Basics of Anatomy… check, check, and check._ You hummed and nodded to yourself as you stacked those three books on top of the small pile balanced precariously in your other hand. You had one day off tomorrow so it only made sense to pilfer some books to read and study during that time; it wasn’t like you really had any close friends to hang out and get into trouble with.

Sure, you had people that you liked talking to and such but you hadn’t really had the chance to get close to anyone. Even with the given that this was only your third week in training, you still weren’t that much of a people person. You considered yourself more of a people watcher; analyzing and keeping track of others made it easier to learn how to deal with them once you started talking… but in all honesty there were a few people that had peaked your interest already but you’d yet to talk to.

_Like that Eren boy who keeps getting into spats with Jean and his two friend… they’re an interesting bunch. That’s for sure. Especially Armin…_ Your face flushed slightly at that thought. As you turned around to start heading back to your table, the thoughts of how sweet and cute he looked clouded your mind slightly. “Alright so perhaps if I can just get the guy in charge here to let me take at least four of them back with me I can hide the oth- oof!”

The landing wasn’t as soft as one would hope- but then again landing on your rear end from only a standing position wasn’t too bad to start with. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the books; it looked like there was going to be some bent pages and broken spines.

You found yourself mentally chuckling at your own joke as you processed whether you were hurt or not. _What the hell did I…? Oh._

“Oh my. I’m so sorry! I should’ve been paying more attention…” the small blond boy. “Are you okay… I’m so sorry I don’t even know your name…”

“(f/n) (l/n) but of course most people just call me (y/n)- I’m fine Armin, though I don’t think the same can be said for you.” Sitting up on your hunches you reached over to see where the blood on his forehead was coming from, “It looks like one of the book covers gave you a small gash. Let me just grab something for that.”

Armin found himself wishing the ground would just swallow him up right there and then. Just how many times did he have to inconvenience another person in his lifetime? “Look at me, you know my name and I don’t even know yours… and then I go and knock you over.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. It was just an accident is all,” you replied with a small smile. Feeling satisfied that you had managed to find the small rag in your pocket, you dabbed his wound lightly. Of course the crimson colored blood would leave stains in the end but that wasn’t of the utmost importance at the moment; treating an injured comrade was. “I’m sorry for this,” you apologized while checking if the bleeding had stopped, “I’m rather clueless when it comes to first aid- actually one of the books was a first aid book! Let me see if it says anything…”

“No (y/n), it’s fine,” Armin protested softly as you sifted through the wreckage in a search, “I don’t think it’s bleeding anymore. Here, I’ll help you then leave since I’m always in everyone’s way it seems; I don’t want to offend you anymore.”

He held what had once been a pristine, white rag in one hand and reached over to pick up one of the books with the other; however, he completely paused when one of your hands ended up on top of his.  
“Uh…” Armin wasn’t sure what to say. Despite his attempt to alert you to the situation, your hand still hadn’t moved. Were you doing this on purpose?

“Armin…” you began, “I don’t know much about you but I can assure you- with complete honesty- that you don’t always end up in people’s way.” _Oh my god I hope I’m not coming off as a complete ditz…_ “You just have your mistakes and accidents like everyone else does… just try not to be so hard on yourself. You’re only human.”

The boy wasn’t sure what to say before, but now with his face feeling rather warm he really didn’t know what to even think.

Taking his silence as a sign that he was thinking about what you had said to him, you merely smiled. The cool leather of the book both your hands had been on felt refreshing once you were able to slide it away from the other party; it could’ve been an ancient book but you wouldn’t have been able to identify it regardless. Armin only broke from his silence and stillness once you had gathered all of the books onto a nearby table- though not the one you had wanted to place them on before the incident.

Once he had finally pulled himself from the ground and walked over to where you stood, he noticed that you were trying to bend and flatten the mangled pages of one book back into place, it looked like a rather tedious project. Feeling guilty for the extra work you now had to do Armin grabbed a smaller book titled _Basics of Anatomy_ and started to do the same.

The two of you worked silently.

“The cut has stopped throbbing,” the smaller one of the two broke the veil.

“That’s good,” you responded while sneaking a glance at Armin before focusing once again on the work. “So… Shiganshina, huh?” _My god I have absolutely no idea what to say_ , you whined mentally.

Perhaps your greatest weakness, socially, was the fact that when you hadn’t people-watched someone you had no clue how to hold a conversation with them.

_Oh, so you grew up in one of districts that was used as Titan bait and later destroyed by Titans? I’m sure there was a lot of death to be seen and many loved ones lost. Let’s talk about it casually_ , you chided yourself mentally.

“Um, yeah.” Armin wasn’t exactly sure of how to respond to your question. “Where are you from?”

“A small fishing village in the north of Wall Rose.”

“A fishing village, you say? That sounds interesting.”

“Ha, it’s really not. You don’t have to pretend it is for my sake…” you couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Even when you lived there you had never really found it interesting; although you were very grateful to how your life was able to be rather cushy when compared to others. Especially those in Shiganshina… _Plus thanks to all my fishing and swimming skills I can hold my breath for quite some time now._

“It is interesting though…”

You chose to ignore the protest and turned to his injury instead. “So how are you holding up anyway?”

“I don’t think it’s bleeding anymore. It doesn’t feel like it at least.”

“I’ll just take a look then, okay?” When the boy offered no objection to that you reached over and brushed some of his baby soft hair out of the way. You hummed and nodded in an attempt to look like you had some idea of what was going on. “It looks like it’s stopped bleeding for now, I’d be careful with it though. It would also probably be a good idea to wash it a little when you’re at the bathhouse next time…” you decided finally.

“Oh okay. Thanks (y/n), I really appreciate it even though I ruined your evening and-” he had planned on continuing to make his point before one of your fingers poked him in the nose. _What was that?_

When he gave you an odd look you explained, “Don’t bother with anymore apologies or making yourself feel bad again. Please?”

Then Armin felt it; all while looking into your kind (e/c) irises and your slightly chapped lips turned into a smile, Armin felt the burst in his chest. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before- it was similar to when he first looked in the book about the outside but different. It was more firey and alarming to him. He wanted to just look at your beautiful face forever, to be so close to you and to hold you against him would be amazing. _I want… to protect her. To be with her forever…_

“Armin? Hello, Armin, are you feeling alright? Should I take you to the Medic Bay?”

The blond shook his head slowly. “No, I’m fine but thank you (y/n). Would it be okay if I helped you carry these back to your dorm?” Armin asked the gorgeous girl in front of him unsurely.

“Actually…” you started to explain while running a hand through your hair.

* * *

 

That wasn’t the last time that Armin and you had been together. And it was very much to Jean’s enjoyment to point such a thing out.

“Holy Walls, Eren, will you just shut the hell up. No matter how weird and dumb you claim I am, at least I’m not following that (y/n) girl around like your little blond friend is,” Jean pointed out with a smirk. It wasn’t that he had anything against Armin- quite the opposite actually- he just liked pointing out the truth and as a truthful person he had to uphold to it no matter what the truth was. And truth was Armin had learned that girl’s schedules and habits quite effectively and without a doubt used them to his advantage to find her when he pleased.

The reaction was two from a very opposite spectrum; Armin seemed to shrink back and Eren seemed to charge forward.

“Shut the hell up, Horseface. He doesn’t follow (y/n) around- he’s not some idiot stalker like you,” Eren’s grip on his broom was reaching a dangerous point. His knuckles had turned so white they were almost translucent.

“If that’s what you want to believe. How about you, Armin? What’s your comment on all of this?”

The shortest boy of the three had been pretending to busy himself with sweeping in an effort to avoid the situation. Unfortunately, it seemed to not help him at all. “I didn’t really learn her schedule on purpose to follow her around… she’s just a very habitual person.” That may or may not have been a lie. “And I like hanging out with her too, that’s all…”

“Yeah so shut your long, coward face, Kirstein,” Eren interjected without missing a beat.

The copper headed boy snorted. Of course he would get stuck sweeping the boys’ dorms with this suicidal blockhead and his lackey, and even more of course they’d end up in a pointless argument. “Well, then can we at least agree that your little friend there has the hots for her?”

Eren wasn’t sure what his rebut should be for that. He had the sneaking suspicion that Armin may have a crush on (y/n) when Mikasa brought it to his attention but… did Armin know? As his best friend should he out him to Jean and agree, or was he supposed to flagrantly ignore it all and oppose the coward? He snuck a glance over to the boy and noticed he seemed much more flushed and focused on his sweeping than before. “Armin?”

“Huh?”

“Do you… like (y/n)?” Eren ignored Jean’s smirk of triumph and instead focused himself on helping his friend. Could he help with something like this? Was it really a good idea to let Armin get into trouble like that considering how deadly this life was and how many people they have and could lose…

“I…” Armin stopped sweeping for a moment to rub his nose and look out the windows, “just think she’s pretty…”

“Bah! So what, does innocent Armin lust after, (y/n)? You just wanna see what she looks like without clothes and-”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Armin growled.

To say that Eren and Jean were surprised at the amount of anger in the voice that came out of Armin’s mouth was an understatement; it without a doubt caught them off guard. Never before had Jean seen Armin like this and Eren was still currently searching for any memory that compared- it didn’t seem like it though.

“She deserves more respect than that.” Armin had turned this back to them this time so they couldn’t see his face but his voice seemed normal now; there was no anger or hatred in it anymore. It was more plain than anything.

Jean and Eren looked at each other for a moment but nothing more was said about the disturbing event. The dorms had started to foster a sense of normality after the first eight weeks but it was safe to say that at the moment all of that was gone. The afterchills of Armin’s words still permeated the air.

“Whatever the hell that was, I’m going to take the shit we swept up out of here. I’ll be right back,” Jean informed the two before tossing his broom on the ground in favor of the can they had been dumping their sweepings into. Once the door had banged behind him the air seemed to be even chillier without Jean’s presence.

_What am I thinking? I have nothing to worry about; I’ve known Armin for so many years._ “Armin, you’re one of my two best friends so I want you to realize where I’m coming from when I say this… if you do like (y/n) I think you should be very careful about it. There are a lot of people that are going to die as we fight the Titans…” He had expected Armin to turn around and yell at him- to tell him that he had it all wrong and the (y/n) was merely a pretty girl to him as he had said, but he didn’t.

“Eren, don’t worry about me. I’m going to protect (y/n) so there’ll be nothing to worry about.” Armin’s reply was very quiet and didn’t seem to be purposefully said aloud but the other boy still heard it.

Instead of digging deeper Eren decided to leave the issue as it was. Despite the fact that Armin had lost so many in such a short amount of time, he seemed unbothered with the possibility of how his crush on (y/n) could affect him. In a way that calmed Eren; if Armin had stronger feelings for (y/n) then wouldn’t he be more worried about losing her in this life and what unnecessary pain it could bring him? Eren decided to take it all as a sign that Armin’s confession that he saw (y/n) as just a pretty girl was just that- a truthful confession.


	2. Part II

“She’s fine, Armin.” Eren patted his blond friend on the back reassuringly. They’d been sitting together on the steps up to their bunk for what must’ve been almost an hour. The sun had passed its peak a few hours ago and the sky was just approaching the point when it would begin to change into a mosaic of colors; kind of like the fancy vases that a small pick of vendors used to sell along the street side.

“I know,” Armin shifted his head farther into the crevice between his knees as they were drawn up to his chest, “it’s just that it’s been a little too long. Your test didn’t take this long and mine didn’t either…”

When Armin trailed off, Eren frowned. “We don’t know exactly how long it’s been- this could be perfectly normal for all we know.” The other boy didn’t look very convinced so Eren continued, “This is only our second year here and only our third test to see how we work in teams; (y/n) is good.”

_(y/n) is good but that doesn’t mean that I trust the other people on her team._

The thought surprised Armin- he tried to erase it quickly. Hannah, Mylius, and Samuel were capable soldiers… Weren’t they? _Yes, yes they are_. He repeated the thought a few times in order to convince himself. (y/n) would be fine.

“Yeah, I’m sure (y/n) is showing them all how it’s done.” Connie appeared in the doorway of the bunks and made his way over to the other two boys. He was all smiles until he plopped down next to them; his mouth pulled into a frown and his eyes began to focus in on something in the sky.

Eren noticed before Armin did so he tried to follow Connie’s line of sight. After failing to see what was so important he turned back to the unnaturally serious boy. “What do you see?”

Connie wordlessly pointed a finger at the sky; he seemed entranced.

Rolling his eyes, Eren shook his head and tried again, “Connie, I can’t see what the hell you’re looking at can’t you just tell me?”

As Armin trained his eyes on the vast sky before them Connie replied, “There’s a bird. Don’t you see it? It’s flying a little funny don’t you think?” By this point the two that couldn’t find the mystery object before were staring directly at dark dot that was becoming bigger each second, but that wasn’t the only thing. It seemed to be flying in a bizarre fashion.

“I think it’s injured,” Armin ventured as they watched it silently. By now the wings were discernable from the rest of the body and its erratic flight pattern was obvious to the boy.

“Looks like it’s going to fall right out of the sky,” Connie remarked.

And just as they noticed it, the bird disappeared from sight. Or so it seemed. The bird’s rapid descent towards the ground had all three boys trying to train their eyes on it again. It landed a few meters away from the bunks with a loud plopping sound.

There was no twitching, no squawking, and no movement at all.

Dead.

“It fucking just fell out of the sky dead!” Connie jumped up form where he had been sitting in a flash. “That’s bad omen! Oh let me tell you that’s one bad omen!”

As Eren tried to get Connie to stop freaking out, Armin walked over to the dead bird. It was a rather small white and black bird with wings tinted blue. _It’s a pretty bird_ , Armin mused as he leaned closer to examine it.

“Looks like a crow,” the now only skittish Connie commented. Eren had tried to get him to stand closer to the bird, but the boy with the shaved head had refused and kept his distance from it.

“Is it?” Eren asked while looking at the well-read Armin for a verdict.

The blond racked his brain for a minute before shaking his head. “I actually think it’s a Magpie. I’ve seen some paintings of it before in one of the books that my grandfather had; a bird watching book is what he called it.”

“That’s an even worse omen…”

Eren and Armin turned to look at the boy who stood well out of the radius as he took even a few more steps back. “My mom and my siblings and I used to watch birds all the time… Mom’s favorite bird was Magpies. She told us once that they’re symbols of happiness-”

“And how is that a bad omen?” Eren interrupted which caused Connie to shake his head vigorously and give him a hard look.

“ _Because_ they’re also symbolic of a shaky personality and unpredictable behavior and situations and…” He took another step back and rubbed his forehead slowly. “They point to an individual with a deceptive nature… They’re part of a lot of fables from my village.”

The brunet and blond shared an uncertain look before turning back to the third.

Eren let out a slow chuckle, “Connie, this is the real world. You can’t really believe in stuff like that, can you?”

“Of course someone from outside of the village would say that,” Connie grumbled, “none of you have heard the stories.”

“You can tell us the stories tonight then, Connie. You’ll have the honor of telling us all about your superstitions during story time.”

“You watch me. I will and then you’ll all see,” Connie crossed his arms and looked away.

During the time that the two had been talking, Armin was taking a closer look at the bird. This was most likely going to be one of the only chances he’d have to examine a bird this closely and not just be restricted to quick glances and paintings; he might as well try to learn as much as he could.

In the recent years, birds were also among the wild animals that weren’t showing up often as they had been; it had been speculated that because of the trees uprooted in order to make room for the farming, birds were being forced to make their homes outside of the walls. Despite the fact that they didn’t have much to eat on them to start with it was still disheartening to many because it just felt like the squeeze of never having enough food to go around was becoming even tighter.

As Armin slowly splayed the wings to examine them closer, a shine caught his eyes. He looked around for the source only to decide that he must’ve imagined it. However, once it happened again Armin had an idea of where it had come from. _Did… did the bird’s eyes just open? Is that it?_

He leaned closer.

He wasn’t going to miss it this time.

The pure black eyes opened once more and Armin jumped. He fell onto his butt and surprise and scooched himself backwards in fear. _How the hell could it be alive? It hadn’t been breathing! It fell right out of the sky, it should be dead from how high it fell!_

But before Armin could alert the others to the seemingly possessed bird, Sasha’s voice rang through the air.

“Guys! Guys!” Sasha was running towards them in a way that could fool someone into thinking that the dinner bell had just rung. Her arms were waving frantically as she called for their attention a few more times.

Connie had to grab the taller girl by the shoulders to keep her from crashing into him; luckily he was able to hold up her weight when she just about collapsed. “What? What is it?” Connie questioned her rather frantically as she tried to catch her breath.

She shook her head. “No. There was,” she took a deep breath in to steady her voice, “the team- the group that was testing. A crash.”

Armin suddenly felt like there wasn’t any ground beneath him.

“Where are they?”

Sasha glanced at him before licking her dry lips. Now that she had been able to calm herself down a little bit, she felt her ability to make full sentences return. “I don’t know all the details, all I know is that Franz saw two stretchers being carried into the Medic Bay and Hannah was crying to him about someone crashing into a tree-” She wasn’t given the chance to finish her thought before Armin took off towards Medic Bay.

_If Hannah wasn’t hurt then that means that (y/n) really could be one of the two injured… I knew that something was going to happen._ Never before had hot anger and worry coursed through Armin at the same time like this; despite that, he desperately clung to the idea that you could be perfectly fine. He tried to picture himself running down there just to see you standing there worrying for the well-being of your teammates… you’d give him that gorgeous smile and assure him you were alright…

Connie, Sasha, and Eren was surprised to see Armin able to leave them in the dust so quickly. Sasha had started to ask about the dead bird as her attention got distracted but was pulled back to reality by Connie as they both followed after Eren’s form.

* * *

 

 

“I’m so sorry,” Hannah sobbed into her hands.

Armin wasn’t sure what to do with himself. His beautiful (y/n) was hurt- you were one of the two in that building that one of the soldiers wouldn’t let anyone else enter. The blond’s hands curled into fists and he stood away from the edge of the group of other trainees that had gathered.

“It wasn’t your fault, Hannah,” Franz reminded the orange-haired girl gently.

“What exactly happened?” Minna questioned allowed while everyone else immediately started to listen.

At that moment Armin noticed that Mikasa had sidled up to him opposite of where Eren hovered over his shoulder. She didn’t try to comfort him (which wouldn’t have been helpful anyway because it was calming down that he needed, not comfort) but her presence was reassuring in its own way.

Hannah wiped her eyes before clearing her throat; despite that her voice was still rather shaky. “I’m not really sure since I didn’t see everything from the start… Samuel did you see it from the beginning?” When he shook his head without a word Hannah went on.

She explained how she had first heard a scream of pain from (y/n)- a detail which made Armin shake in a way that probably looked like crying to some- and yelling from Mylius. It seemed that there had been a miscommunication within the group and when Mylius tried to correct the error in order to keep him and his teammate from colliding, he miscalculated. The grappling hook that he discharged hit (y/n) in the leg.

From that point in the story there wasn’t much detail as Hannah admitted she had to direct her attention towards stopping herself before watching anymore; by the time her and Samuel had stopped, Mylius had been knocked out from his crash into tree but it was just his luck that (y/n)’s crash wasn’t as bad because he wouldn’t fallen straight to the ground if it hadn’t been for her.

“It was like she was literally his lifeline,” Samuel interjected when Hannah had finished. “It’s likely that if she hadn’t been able to get a hold on one of his lines, he would’ve just cracked his head open…”

It was a sobering moment for all of the trainees.

The danger in this world didn’t lie just within in the Titans but also within each one of them. They were all capable of being dangerous to themselves and others…

Eren and Armin had been friends for a long time and been through a lot together. And it was just that reason that Armin felt lucky because that meant that Eren knew just what Armin needed, even when he couldn’t do it for himself.

“How do you think (y/n)’s injuries are?” Eren questioned Hannah and Samuel.

However, neither of them were able to answer that because at that moment Commander Shadis exited the building. His presence brought a hushed, yet worried, silence over all of the trainees; it felt like everyone was holding their breath.

The bald-headed man surveyed the small crowed before addressing them. “I’m sure that by now you’ve all heard the story of what happened. Let us reflect on this moment as a reminder that being trained to be worthy soldiers is deadly but important because if you can’t survive here there’s no point in sending you out as a defender- you won’t last a moment.”

Those words managed to get a small rise out of Armin. _Is he implying that (y/n) isn’t capable? She’s more than capable. She saved that ungrateful teammate’s life…_ His jaw tightened but other than that there were no more signs illustrating Armin’s increased anger with Shadis’s words.

“Despite the accident that happened, the nurses and doctor have informed me that both Cadet (y/n) and Cadet Mylius will make a full recovery,” he announced. Shadis paused to allow the trainees to have their elated and relieved reactions with the news. After that moment he went on to add, “As we are in our second year of training I am hoping that there will be no more incidents such as this one. Now Hannah and Samuel, follow me to my office.”

Armin couldn’t even pay much attention to the others around him in that moment; he was much too relieved. He felt like dancing. He felt like celebrating. But most of all he felt like busting through the door right then and running to you so he could hold your body tight against his.

Just as Commander Shadis and the two trainees left, the rest of the crowd began to disperse with a murmur.

“That’s good to hear, isn’t it Armin? It’s good to know that everyone will be okay.” Eren squeezed Armin’s shoulder and gave him a smile.

Armin returned it to both Eren and Mikasa. “Of course, but you and Mikasa should get going since it’s going to be dinner soon. I’m going to see if the nurses will let me see (y/n) now.”

“I don’t think they will; I mean they just got here a few minutes ago I’m sure that they’re still being taken care of,” Eren pointed out with a frown. He knew that Armin was friends with you and he could understand how he’d want to help, but he was slightly worried just what it would do to Armin seeing one of his friends actually hurt. Armin didn’t need any more reminders about just how deadly this world could be, he knew firsthand.

Armin shrugged away from Eren, “It’s fine. I’m just going to see if they need some help or something.” He was already walking towards the door without any regard if Eren had a reply or not; he didn’t really care at the moment.

“Let’s go,” Mikasa told Eren while starting to walk away. “I’m sure Armin is just happy to have a chance to see that (y/n) is okay for himself. He probably just wants a moment with her.” She paused and turned to watch if Eren was willing to let it go and just follow her.

The brunet boy wrestled with his thoughts for a moment before sighing and relenting. “Yeah, you’re right. Besides I’m sure that (y/n) will be glad to have some familiar company with her during a time like this.”

Luckily for Armin once the soldier had left his post at the door to follow Commander Shadis it hadn’t taken much convincing in order to get the nurse, who greeted him once he walked in, to let him stay. As it turned out they did need a little help because there weren’t many people on staff that day and there had been a small stomach sickness making its rounds for the past week; that meant that the two nurses and one doctor that were working were spread a little thin.

The nurse led Armin to (y/n)’s room that she was sharing with the unconscious Mylius and told him to come find her if anything was needed. After that she took her leave quickly with a grumble about vomit buckets.

Armin surveyed the rather small room that only contained two cots and a couple of chairs near the back before looking where you lay. You seemed to be slightly out of it so he picked one up to walk it over silently to your bedside before sitting there. When you didn’t even notice him then, despite your eyes being open, he touched your shoulder lightly. “(y/n)?”

It was then that you snapped out of whatever trance you had been in. You looked over to your left slightly and smiled when you saw Armin’s face; you weren’t surprised at all to see him here. He was a close friend that seemed to always be with you whenever you needed someone.

“Hey, Armin,” you greeted him before turning back to stare across the room to where Mylius was out cold in his cot.

Armin followed your gaze and frowned. “Don’t worry about him, (y/n). I’m sure he’s going to be fine.” _Which isn’t exactly what he deserves…_

“No matter what you say Armin, I’m going to worry. He took that tree pretty hard… I should’ve been able to stop it more. I should have the ability to do something like that. What if that had happened out on the front lines…”

He couldn’t help it when his anger flared again. He wasn’t angry at you- not at all- but he was furious with Mylius. “He would’ve gotten you both killed then,” Armin replied with a trained voice. He didn’t want to make it seem like he was mad at you.

You shrunk back into the pillow behind you with a sigh. “I guess there’s no point in thinking about all of that. The what-ifs aren’t going to help anyone. At least I get to walk away from this all with only a scratch really; the doctor thinks that Mylius has a few cracked ribs.”

There was sadness laced in your voice that cut open Armin’s heart. Mylius had made you feel this way; he had hurt you physically, emotionally, and mentally. He didn’t get half of the punishment that he deserved. Not yet at least.

“You don’t have just a scratch,” Armin argued quietly as his eyes focused on your face. It was a given that you still looked like a goddess but the paste above your left eye to keep the split skin from bleeding, the bruise on your jaw, and the long scratch on your cheek all hurt him. None of that even took into account your bandaged hand from what must’ve been caused by friction when you grabbed Mylius’s line.

He could feel the hurt in his chest. _I’m supposed to protect her. This isn’t protecting her- this is pitiful._

Your voice brought Armin back from his internal punishment. “It could’ve been a lot worse- I mean he could’ve shot me straight in the leg. But in the end I just got nicked with it.” You pulled the blanket away from your leg to show your point.

In response Armin frowned.

It wasn’t just a nick, you had stitches. The injury must’ve been at least 10 centimeters long as it wrapped around the outside of your thigh and blemished it in an angry, jagged tear. The evidence of Mylius’s error disappeared from sight when you pulled the hem of the linen gown you were wearing back down over it.

_There’s no point in arguing with her over it,_ Armin thought as he noticed the sleepy expression on your face. You looked as though you were having trouble holding your eyelids up. “Regardless of it, I’m really glad you’re okay (y/n)… but you look tired so why don’t you take a nap?”

At his suggestion the corners of your mouth pulled up in a sleepy way and you nodded. Without any other words you shifted yourself lower and rearranged your body in order to get comfortable; once you were content you looked over at the adorable blond boy once more. “Are you going to leave?”

Feeling rather bold from all of the relief that he’d felt just a few minutes ago, Armin reached over to stroke your hand a couple of times. “No, (y/n), I’m going to stay here the whole time.”

Some people may translate Armin’s words in more of a way that was creepy, but you didn’t. It was difficult for you to imagine the small boy that you had met two years ago having ill-intentions. His words were comforting to hear.

Armin watched you for however many minutes it was for your breathing to slow and your face to relax; all the signs pointed to you sleeping soundly. The tender look that he was watching you with didn’t last long as Mylius’s form gave out a small groan and stirred for moment. The normally sky blue eyes of Armin turned icy then.

_(y/n) is asleep right now and no one else is around… would it really be that bad to just take care of him right now? I’m not the strongest but he’s in no condition to fight back if I just decided to hold a pillow to his face…_ Armin contemplated the thoughts for moment before becoming alarmed. Just what kinds of thoughts were those to be having? Sure they were justifiable, Mylius had hurt his beautiful flower, but they were also rather… disturbing.

The blond hunched over in the chair and rubbed his temples roughly; thoughts like these had been plaguing him for a while- ever since he’d met you. _(y/n) is alright isn’t she? So there’d be no point in taking measures like that which would just upset her. She’d probably just end up blaming herself for it anyway._

When a soft whine came from your throat, Armin turned his attention back to you.

This was his chance wasn’t it?

Mylius was out, you were sleeping, it didn’t seem that either of the nurses would be stopping by anytime soon. It was finally Armin’s chance to really admire the girl that he found so gorgeous.

Usually his admiring of your beauty was limited to glances during meals and marveling at you from afar when you two were in class together. This was a rare chance to study and cherish you without making you feel uncomfortable or calling the attentions of others. He was going to etch as much of your beauty as he could within his mind.

He stood from the chair at first to lean over your face; brushing your hair back gently, he took in your scent. It was unsurprising the find that you hair was soft under his fingertips and as he trailed his thumb over your temple he couldn’t help but lean in closer. You must’ve bite your lip when you hit the tree because there was a pronounced red spot which had obviously been bleeding at one point; the boy leaned in even closer so his nose could brush your cheek as he considered kissing your lips.

Armin froze as you let out a deep sigh.

He didn’t dare make any sudden movements for the moments after that, but once it was made clear that you weren’t waking up he realized just what he was doing. _I can’t kiss her without her permission,_ Armin scolded himself mentally as he pulled away, _I shouldn’t even think of doing something like that to (y/n)._ While he scolded himself for thinking of doing something so lascivious Armin’s thumb returned to your face and this time brushed over your lips gently.

Finally pardoning himself of that because he’d been able to catch himself, Armin reveled in the fact that he was feeling your living (though slightly marred) form under his own fingers for the first time. Sure he’d been hugged by you, and your arm would brush his when you sat next to him for meals, and he’d sparred with you before but this was different; this was purposeful touch that he was initiating.

_She’s more gorgeous than the night sky on the clearest nights during the winter,_ Armin noted.

It was only a matter of time until Armin’s touches roused you from your sleep; you had entered consciousness because of the tickling sensation on your scalp but it’d only taken you a minute to realize that it wasn’t just a tickle but someone touching you. You had felt their presence close to your face and let out a gasp before you could control it, so you covered it as a sigh and acted as though you were still sleeping.

_Armin was here when I fell asleep and he said he wouldn’t leave so then… this is Armin doing this? Did he just try to kiss me?_ Your mind felt like it was spinning out of control; you weren’t sure what to do so you focused on your breathing instead.

He couldn’t kiss- not on the lips at least. Armin knew enough to know that you wouldn’t like that if you found out somehow. _Kissing lips would be wrong but what about something else? Would it be okay to kiss her cheek? Forehead? It feels odd to kiss her face as she sleeps so perhaps I could just kiss the top of (y/n)’s head?_

Not kissing you at all was a possibility too, but not a very likely one. Armin could feel you alive and well under his fingertips after all that had happened to you today (because he couldn’t protect you) but he wanted more confirmation than that. He wanted to know that his (y/n) was okay and feel her more intimately than just caressing her face and stroking her hair…

_Kissing the crown of her head is okay_ , Armin decided. He’d seen people do it before in a platonic way- there was no way that he could feel any remorse or guilt for something like that.

And that was all the convincing he needed.

He leaned forward to kiss the crown of your head without any more thought about it.

You felt the shift closer once more and unconsciously tensed your arms and face before forcing yourself to relax. Just how was this going to play out? He must’ve not seen your reflexive response as he was leaning closer again though, very lucky on your part. However, you mentally prepared yourself to start shoving and punching the moment his lips touched yours.

_I never thought Armin of the type but it he thinks he can get away-_ your thoughts were halted. A pressure appeared on the crown of your head- lips? He was kissing your head? Or was it not a kiss? The pressure was staying in spot for odd amount of time if this was a kiss.

Armin pressed his lips into your hair. Your scent was intoxicating and the warmth of you under his lips was addictive; he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from you.

“Since you’re here I have to ask you a favor-”

Startled, Armin shot up and jumped back from your bedside only to stumble over the chair behind him. He struggled to keep his balance for a moment before falling back into it. Fear, embarrassment, annoyance; all of those things were coursing through him at that moment. Armin ignored it all though and let a meek, “Yes?”

After that show all the nurse could do was raise an eyebrow. She didn’t really understand why a boy would get so flustered over something as small as being walked in on while kissing a girl’s head, but she decided not to focus on it. “Dinner is going to be served in a few moments so I’d like for you to go get two servings before the bell rings- one for Mylius and one for (y/n). That’s all.”

“Uh, yeah okay. I’ll do that,” Armin agreed and waited for the nurse to leave before letting out a sigh and standing from the chair. “I’ll be right back, (y/n),” he promised before starting his way out of the room.

The doors closed and the room became silent once more, but you continued to lie there motionlessly. _What just happened?_ You questioned while trying to process the whole scenario.

* * *

 

It hadn’t taken Armin long to procure the necessary food; it looked like tonight’s dinner was some fish, watery soup, and mashed potatoes with a small loaf of bread. The regular fair really. One of the ladies that was preparing the food had been nice enough to help him stack the two servings of food efficiently before he left so there was less of a chance of him spilling anything.

_I guess there’s no excuse for me to drop any of Mylius’s food then_ , Armin mused- he wasn’t too sure whether he was being serious or not but he didn't bother questioning it. The thought of trying to sabotage the bastard’s food slipped from his mind as he concentrated on making his way back to Medic Bay.

That was until he saw a peculiar plant.

It wasn't really an uncommon sight, rather it was just a leafy plant with long, slightly pointy leaves. But what really caught Armin’s attention was his memories of this specific plant. He recognized it easily as a plant that his grandfather and even Mikasa’s and Eren’s mother had used to treat their red skin as children when they stayed out in the sun for too long. He knew it grew in abundance within Wall Maria but had never known that it also grew within Wall Rose.

The warnings of his grandfather’s voice sounded in his head; it was a plant that was never to be eaten. It was for using on one’s skin only.

Unless someone really wanted to give themselves diarrhea and make themselves ill…

The boy’s lips turned up into a devious smirk. _Of course making myself sick like that wouldn't do any good but it may be good for someone else… the loss of water could kill someone but he’s already in Medic Bay so I doubt anything that bad will happen to him._

Armin glanced around to see if there’d be any witnesses to what he was about to do as he walked over to the unsuspecting plant. When he was sure that there wasn’t anyone else around he hurriedly placed the food items on the ground (while also making sure to keep them from falling or getting dirty). Kneeling down, he plucked one of the long leaves carefully and brought it closer to his face so he could inspect it closely.

Once he was able to recall his grandfather’s method for getting the gel out of the middle, he fumbled with the leaf for a minute in an attempt to get it to split cleanly. This proved to be a task that would've been much easier if he had been in possession of a knife; in the end though, he managed to get a piece of it open cleanly but not without cursing a little when some of the substance inside leaked onto the ground.

“Damn plant,” Armin grumbled a little as he scraped his forefinger through the wound of the plant. He made sure to catch whatever of the gel that came out into the bowl that Mylius would be eating from. Whatever was left that he couldn't scrape out he instead settled for squeezing out.

The content of the entire leaf were dumped into the bowl before he tossed the gutted evidence back into the shrubbery. As he was stirring the soup, Armin decided that the one leaf wouldn't do the trick. In order to remedy that, Armin emptied two more leaves of the plant onto the fish and into the mashed potatoes before deciding that his work was done

As he got closer and closer to the Medic Bay building Armin couldn't keep the smile off of his face. _Mylius is finally going to get exactly what he deserves for hurting my lovely (y/n)… someone has to do what (y/n) would never do herself._

Just before Armin had arrived with the food, you had come to the conclusion that whatever had happened earlier wasn't really a reflection of Armin. Of course anyone would react like that if they had heard one of their friends had been in a crash, wouldn't they? He wasn't trying to take advantage of the situation or act inappropriately you told yourself, he was just relieved that you were okay and didn't know exactly what to do with that emotion.

_He didn't kiss me in the end. I mean if I had heard about him being in a 3DMG accident wouldn't I have been extremely relieved too?_  You contemplated with all of your thoughts and bounced a few of them around until the dinner bell rang and at that same moment Armin walked in.

He set down Mylius’s food on the table next to his cot before doing the same for you.

He had been meticulous in making sure to not mix up any of the items.

He didn't want to hurt you like that.

“Thank you, Armin,” you smiled at him grateful before going to reach for the soup.

Armin beat you to it though before taking his seat. Holding the bowl in one hand, he spooned some of the broth with the other. “Why don’t I feed you so you don’t hurt your hands anymore?”

His offer was simple and innocent but you found yourself shaking your head. “Armin, I can feed myself- besides you should be getting diner with everyone else now. They’re going to stop serving as soon as they think everyone’s gotten their food.”

“I’m fine, (y/n). I had my food while I was there so I could stay with you until lights out,” Armin lied through his teeth easily; talk about killing two birds with one stone. That lie allowed him to stay with you even longer and covered for the amount of time he spent sabotaging Mylius’s food. “Let me at least feed your soup to you then so you don’t spill any on yourself by accident.”

Across the room Mylius was stirring and the nurse from earlier had walked in to take care of him. He was groaning some words to the nurse about the pain and asking what happened, you tried to listen to the conversation but were distracted when Armin managed to spoon a little bit of the soup between your lips.

You swallowed it graciously before giggling a little. “Alright fine, but only the soup. I can feed myself the rest of the food.”

“Only the soup,” Armin agreed with a nod. On the inside his stomach was doing flips, you were his perfect little doll. He felt thrilled to have this chance to baby you in such a way; few things were more endearing than watching you require his assistance.

“Hey Armin?” A hoarse voice asked.

Armin turned to look at the criminal lying in the cot opposite from yours.

“Thank you for getting my food for me,” Mylius murmured. “I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Mylius. It was really no trouble,” Armin replied with a small smile before turning back to feed you more soup. 

**Author's Note:**

> Oi vey! Call me really fucking weird but I love Armin as a yandere. He's just so adorable and unassuming... unf super awesome ^^ Plus I think he has a background that you can really work with for the whole thing. God I love him~
> 
> So yes this is part 1 and I have the barebones of this baby planned out but I don't know how long it will all be in the end (hopefully no more than five parts but you never know)... I'm hoping to get the next part out in a couple of weeks at the latest; hopefully that works out yo. If you have any ideas or suggestions for this I'd love to hear them! Yes, this will most likely become rather graphic later on~
> 
> This story was produced in about one day so if there's any spelling mistakes or such I apologize!
> 
> Regardless of that I hope that everyone enjoys it!


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